For a day full of awesomeness, Thursday at Salt Lake Comic Con 2014 ended on the perfect note. “Don’t Go There: Forbidden Con Topics” was hands down the best panel of more than one person in all of comic con. Billed as 18+ only, the panel featured comedians Melissa Merlot and Taylor Hunsaker, Broadcaster Kerry Jackson, Podcasters Rebecca Frost and J.M. Bell, and Cosplay Artist Valerie Perez. The group brought humor, charm and chemistry to a panel that had a high likelihood of fizzling out and self-destructing. There are subjects at comic cons that people avoid talking about, even though they are important and need to be discussed. The members of the “Don’t Go There” handled those subjects with humor and brutal honesty.Star Trek Jackson played moderator, and posed the first question - Why is Star Trek so popular with religious people? It’s atheist and socialism. After a short discussion, Jackson says so what I am getting is that “Star Trek is a bishop storehouse.”Does Cosplay = Consent? The answer was a resounding no. “Obviously, guys are going to notice,” says Bell. Maybe you think or even say something, but that’s where you stop. Bell even uses the “hovering hand” behind the shoulder in photos so that he never actually touches the person with whom he is taking a photo. Perez does cosplay “to advertise a character I want to see more of.” It’s for the kids who want to meet Wonder Woman like I did when I was eight. The rules are pretty easy:

Don’t touch.

Don’t be rude.

Don’t be a dick.

“It goes both ways,” says Frost. Women and men should respect each other. “Cosplay is all about creativity.” (Read her article in Slug Magazine.) “It takes a lot of courage.” Perez recommended that all male cosplayers look into getting a dance belt to help with dealing with the, as Bell put it, “codpiece.” Other topics were covered, but these highlights give a flavor of the conversation without giving up everything. If this panel is offered again, I hope that it is, everyone should attend. It is well worth it. I wish I had audio of Frost saying, “After Dark,” which she used a few times to point out that this panel was meant for adults. It was Comic Con After Dark. More panels with panelists who know how to convey a message and tackle hard subjects related to comic con and the comic con community would be a joy, especially if they were as good as this one.